Fate Void Equinox
by BoredWriter22
Summary: The prelude to the Void Equinox Holy Grail war. An alchemist warrior and his gun-slinging bodyguard explore the magic recesses of North America hunting a mass murderer in hopes to stop him before he strikes again. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons
1. Chapter 1 Blood on the Water

Chapter 1: Blood on the water

* * *

John sat in the back of a luxury class car. A woman with black hair was driving, wearing an expensive red and white uniform. She seemingly ignored the man in the back and kept her eyes on the road."

He wore a light brown canvas coat over a gray shirt and blue jeans. Laced tightly to his feet were brown hiking boots. John had dirty blonde hair and green eyes.

On his lap was a folder. John had already looked over it after he had gotten in the car. Very little information was in the dossier, only two notes and a small card with a Lighthouse emblem on it. The first note explained that there was a major magecraft- involved attack on a ship at sea, and there was a high number of human casualties. Lighthouse officials were already on damage control, making sure no information leaked to the government or social media.

The second note, though, was written directly to John. It explained that whatever happened involved a curse, though the nature of the incident and its causes would not be disclosed in the file. A team of Lighthouse mages would be on location to meet him and escort him around the ship. John made a mental note that the mages were members of Harrow Branch, a sect in the Lighthouse organization meant to destroy undead.

The car turned and pulled into a parking lot next to a three story tall building. Beside the buildings were a series of helipads, most of which were empty. A few men and women in black suits were standing by the building. The driver pulled in next to them, threw the car in park, and got out. John grabbed his duffel bag, and took the card out of the dossier and slipped it into his coat. The driver opened his door and helped him out. John heard a loud chopping sound around the corner. John passed the folder to the driver as she spoke. "Third helipad. You'll be escorted by Vanessa Kimweathers on flight and on location. She goes where you go. Further instructions and supervisors will be waiting for you on arrival. Final loose ends will be tied in six and a half hours from now. I wish you a safe journey."

"Thanks," John replied. The name Vanessa Kimweathers sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. He started off, checking to make sure nothing fell out of his coat pocket. He had his rock, close to a dozen potions, and a few odd random pieces of metal and wood. He knew his duffel bag had everything in it that he really needed. Before he turned the corner, out of the corner of his eye he saw the driver's hand flash, and the dossier was incinerated in her palm.

On one of the closer helipads was a helicopter airbus whose blades were spinning. A woman in a black suit was sitting on the edge. She had an angular face and high cheekbones. She wore a gold and white striped tie, black gloves. Her brown hair was cut short, not long enough to reach her gold and diamond earrings. She beckoned towards John, and tapped a black watch on her wrist.

John nodded and started a brisk jog forward. He covered one of his ears as he got closer, wincing at the sound. The woman took his other hand and hoisted him up. She motioned to the seat beside her.

John saw that there were six other passengers in the back, all of them women. They each wore a black suit with golden buttons, blue shirts, and black cargo pants. Leather harnesses strapped the coats to their torsos and held sabers and pistols at their waists.

The woman slid the door shut. She threw a thumbs up to the pilot, who returned the gesture. When she turned around, she noticed John covering his ears. She sat next to him and pulled a pair of headphones from behind him and put them on his head before doing the same. The sound dampened quite a bit.

"You hear me ok?" she asked, her voice echoed a bit. "Is your name John Marlow?

"It's fine, yeah, my name's John," John replied. The helicopter roared louder. "Is your name Vanessa Kimweathers? Can you tell me what's going on?"

The woman gave him a wry smile and nodded. "Ten hours ago, the Lighthouse received a message from a non-disclosed source. A yacht was wiped out last night." John looked at her, shocked. Vanessa returned a stern look to him. "Close to three dozen people were killed. The Harrow Branch dispatched a team immediately. There are signs of curses cast on the entire crew and passengers. From what we could tell, it inhibited the movements of everyone affected, but that's only a guess. The Lighthouse wanted an analysis from an expert before we scuttle the ship."

The helicopter started to rise. John shut his eyes, trying not to hurl. "Doesn't the Harrow Branch have mages that decipher curses?"

Vanessa nodded. "Of course, but not like this one. One of the Lighthouse soldiers believe that it was a curse cast on the entire crew at once by what they think is alchemical." She glanced over at John. "Which is why you were called. You were the closest known alchemist to San Francisco, and on top of that, you specialize in curses."

The helicopter started to move quicker now. John tried not to look out the window.

"Three dozen casualties," Vanessa continued, not bothered by the flight. "Hope they're paying you enough," she added with a smirk. "The Lighthouse is about to raise all hell until the person responsible is apprehended or eliminated. A team of Harrow Branch is already on site. They sailed to the yacht when it was reported. When the Lighthouse were told how serious the situation was, we were told to wait for you and head out. This wouldn't have been reported if my apprentice hadn't gone with them."

"How far is the boat?" John asked.

"An hour and a half," Vanessa answered.

"That's a long way out. If it's on a ship so far from the coast, who found it?"

The woman pursed her lips before glancing at him. "That's classified. To high up on the chain for you to know. You should get some rest, if you can catch any."

Hours later, he was rudely shaken awake by Vanessa. She directed his attention out of the window.

* * *

The yacht was large.

Rich large.

It was tall enough that John couldn't tell how many floors the ship had. Four, maybe five stories tall. The yacht had a helipad, a cabana, bar, and a hot spa _above _what he originally thought was the top floor.

As they circled above, John had a full view of the deck. His stomach curled. Bodies were lying in pools of blood on deck.

A large motor boat was docked to the lowest floor of the yacht. John could make out a few people standing adjacent to them, looking up at the helicopter.

The helicopter descended rapidly over the water before leveling out next to the yacht. It approached the helipad slowly before touching down. Vanessa got up and pulled open the door. John was just unbelting himself as the soldiers exited the helicopter. He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and hopped out of the helicopter. The roaring of the blades quieted down significantly as they spun down.

He shielded his eyes from the morning sun. He tried not to fall over on the rocking deck, but he fought off the dizziness and stood straight up.

"Is this him?" he heard someone ask.

A younger woman was standing next to Vanessa. She was dressed similarly, with a long black suit jacket and pants, but she wore black combat boots and a dark red undershirt, and her tie was striped with gray and purple. She didn't wear any jewelry, save for a matte black watch, and she carried a briefcase in her left hand. Her brunette hair was a little longer than Vanessa's, tied in a ponytail, and her expression was blank. She had a hard, scarred face, as though she had gotten in a fight with a bear.

Strapped to her hip was a pistol holster. A gun rested in it, what John knew to be a Luger.

Vanessa gestured to the woman. "This is Hawthorne. She came with the first dispatchers on boat, she can fill you in. I need to make a few calls and speak with the Lighthouse responders. Make sure he stays on task. Two hours is all you have." Vanessa turned and walked away, stepping down steps leading to the next floor down.

John looked to Hawthorne. He extended a hand to her. "John Marlow."

The woman shook his hand. "Hawthorne," she replied bluntly. "Follow me." She turned and started walking towards the cabin on the same deck they stood on. John noticed another holster was hanging on her waist. In it was what John thought was a large revolver.

She led him into the cabin of the ship to show him the first bodies. John covered his nose. The smell of blood and death was all too present inside. Three corpses were lying in pools of coagulated, dried blood that were spread over the wood floor. Flies buzzed around them wildly. The room they were in had many switches, dials, and a steering wheel. They were in the bridge, where the ship was piloted.

Two bodies wore white servant uniforms, and the third wore a white captain's uniform. Their clothes were stained red. A set of fading footprints of blood led towards the direction they had come.

Again, John's stomach turned. An experienced mass murderer had been here.

"We had a medical expert in the Branch look at their bodies," Hawthorne told him. "He estimated the time of death was around midnight. For everyone."

"Damn," John muttered. He knelt next to the captain's body. He had a deep laceration that started from his shoulder and went all the way to his heart. The captain's eyes were glazed over. John closed the dead man's eyes for the last time. When he pulled his hand away, he was surprised to find his hand wet. He wiped it off on his pants and turned his attention on the wound. "Any idea what kind of weapon was?

"The ME said that the wounds were consistent with that of an axe," Hawthorne explained. "Whoever swung had serious strength. Then again, their victims could hardly move, so striking them would not have been difficult."

"Hardly move?"

"We believe whoever did this put a curse on everyone in the ship at once, though we can't be certain how."

"Do you have any members that specialize in curses?"

Hawthorne thought for a moment. "I'm not a member of Harrow Branch, I'm one of Vennesa's students. That being said, I know some curses. All I know is that I felt the presence of a curse when we got here, but the traces of all effects vanished hours ago."

"Vanished?"

"I don't know how to describe it, it just faded."

John's mouth twisted in thought. He stood up and drummed his fingers on his bag. "Take me to another."

The pair traveled to two more locations. The first was the mess hall, where there had been six victims, with large cuts just like the others, and bloody footprints leading away.

The second location, the last one John decided he wanted to see was a bedroom. Two bodies of children were strewn around, a boy and a girl. The boy's body severed in two from the waist. The girl, younger than the boy, was still on her bed, a deep gash was carved in her neck. In her dead hands she clutched a golden necklace with a little heart on it. John gently took it from her. Perhaps it was a memento from someone that passed? A gift?

He spent little time there before stepping out.

The magus' knees gave out. He fell to the floor, unable to stand the smell anymore. John threw his bag to the side and vomited all over the carpet. He gasped for breath. "Holy shit," was all he could say. He felt a hand on his shoulder as he threw up again.

"First time seeing a massacre?" Hawthorne asked.

John shook his head and wiped his mouth. "No, but… I've never seen anything this brutal. Those were fucking _kids_!"

"I know," Hawtorne replied, her voice rising above its usual monotone. "Grieving won't help them now, though."

John took a moment before nodding. "You're right." He looked to his hand, which was wet again. He dried it off on his pants and stood up. "I know how they did it," he sighed. "Or, I think do."

The woman raised an eyebrow behind him. "How who did what?"

"How the asshole cursed them all." He looked up to the ceiling, seeing exactly what he expected to see. "Can you take me to the top of this ship? I need to confirm something."

"Yes, but are you sure you want to take that?" Hawthorne pointed to the necklace in his hand.

John's expression hardened. "Yeah, I'm sure, Agent Hawthorne."

The young woman's mouth twisted in thought. "It's not 'Agent.' And you can call me Madison. Madison Hawthorne." She led him up a flight of stairs.

"Where you from, Madison?"

"Maine."

John waited for her to elaborate as they walked, but after a moment, he continued instead. "You work for the Vanessa Kimweathers? What's that like?"

He saw her eye twitch. "Difficult." Her tone was a clear indication she didn't the conversation to keep going. She led him to the starboard side of the ship on the same level where the bridge and the helipad was, and up a small flight of stairs. Here, there was a spacious deck and a hot tub. A few lounging chairs were moved off to the sides.

"This is where the ritual site was," John stated. He slung his bag onto a chair and opened it.

"Ritual site?"

"The bastard thought he was clever enough could hiding the transmutation circle with a masking mixture," John explained. He produced two large bottles of fluids and a small vial of wood mulch. "Can you do me a favor? Could you rip up a strip of carpet downstairs and bring it to me? It's really important."

"Will do."

Even as she left to do so, John uncapped one of the bottles and started spreading it on the deck. "_Chamak_," he chanted once he was sure it covered a sizeable area.

The liquid glowed for a moment and faded in certain areas; the parts that did not glowed slightly brighter in the form of symbols and letters in a clear circle. John recognized it immediately as a transmutation circle. He looked it over critically, shaking his head. _Whoever did this_, he thought to himself, _they are professional, and they definitely had help_.

The circle faced north, or may have been if the ship had not drifted around. The circle contained three elemental symbols; water, wind, and earth. The earth faced south, water was positioned north west, while the wind sat in the north east.

John read the seemingly alien letters, which were divided into three parts in the circle corresponding to each element. Though he could read only a little of it, with the symbols guiding him, he began to understand the workings of the spell.

He poured the wood mulch in his left palm and held his right hand over them. His own transmutation circle shimmered above the splinters, flickering like sunlight through clear water. The magus concentrated hard on the mulch. After a few moments, the mulch gradually shrank and started to shine until it shone as iron shavings.

He dispelled his circle and rubbed the materials into the circle on the ground. As he suspected, the letters and symbols he scrubbed it into turned into a reddish-brown color that stained his hand. John swore under his breath, but not at the mess he made, but at the result. The magic circuits in his hands flashed as he cast a minor spell that cleaned his hands.

"What's going on here?" he heard faintly downstairs. He recognised it to be Vanessa's voice.

"Tearing up a carpet sample for Marlow. He requested it."

"Why? The carpet was already tested for mixtures."

"Marlow thinks there was a mixture added to hide another. He's upstairs, and I think he found something."

John got to his feet and uncapped the second bottle of liquid and replaced it with a spray top. He squirted it a few times to make sure it worked as Vanessa walked up the stairs, Madison shortly behind carrying a strip of carpet. "My student told me you found something?"

"Yeah, a transmutation circle made of blood."

"The passengers' blood?"

John shook his head. "No, this was before. This magic circle was not only the mechanism from which the spell was cast, but it also doubled as a key component for the second part to the spell. The elements north represent-"

Vanessa waved her hand. "I don't care _how _it works," she snapped. "Just tell me what the spell _does_. That's all that matters here."

John pursed his lips. "Okay, one moment. Madison, can I borrow that?" after she handed him the strip of carpet, he sprayed it a few times with the bottle of liquid. The carpet turned a deep shade of blue. "As I thought. A spell contained within a prepared alchemical concoction was mixed into the fire suppression system of the boat. Whoever did this set off the alarm and the sprinklers hosed everyone on board with a potion. The spell up here triggered the properties of it, and inhibited their movement."

"Why would they do that?" Vanessa asked.

"After this spell is initially started, I believe it absorbs the life essence of those trapped within it, and the energy they release upon their deaths, similar how potential energy becomes kinetic en-"

"Get to the point!" Vanessa demanded. "I told you to tell me what the _result_." She snapped her fingers twice. "Hawthorne."

Her student grimaced. "Yes, ma'am," she said, the monotone back again. She drew her gun and aimed it John. He backed up, raising his hands up.

Vanessa crossed her arms and glanced at her watch. "We scuttle this ship in one hour. Whether or not I choose to leave you on it is entirely up to me. The Lighthouse wanted results, and I expect to give it to them in person in New York, eight hours from now. Every minute you waste is not your own, it's _mine_, _and _the Lighthouse's. They didn't ask for specifics, or how any ritual was conducted, they wanted to know the result of what happened here."

John lowered his hands. "I knew I recognized your name. Vanessa Kimweathers, the Iron String Spider." He looked at Madison, who still pointed her gun at John. "And this must be one of your Silk Charlotte's? Children of magus families with one or two extra children you buy off of them to train as bodyguards skilled with firearms."

"When you put it like that, it sounds rather unpleasant," Vanessa sighed. "Someone has to look after the neglected boys and girls who aren't looked after by their own parents. I teach them magic and give them weapons the common magus wouldn't dream of having. I present them Magic Crests that their fathers would not grant them. What's so wrong with that?" The woman stepped up to the transmuter. She looked him over. "You don't look like one yourself, probably from a lesser family with no real aim. Am I correct?"

"You're real far from the truth there, lady," John replied, trying not to slap her.

"Oh? Then what with this dirty coat? And those filthy boots?"

"That's none of your business."

Vanessa shrugged. "It can be if I want, but not at the moment. Can you give me your professional opinion on this matter already?"

Stepping around her, he started towards the stairs. Hawthorne kept her gun trained on him. "I have one more thing to check on first to make sure I'm right. C'mon." He went down the stairs, the two women in tow. In the bridge, he produced his spray bottle of alchemist liquid and started to spray the ceiling. When another circle appeared, he uncapped the bottle and spread it on the carpet directly below it. "As I thought," he said out loud. "The caster drew in life essence, channeled it through the floor, and stored it in a specially prepared container."

"Is that all?" Vanessa asked impatiently. "What did they store it in."

John shrugged. "Maybe a vase, or a jar. I can't be sure, could be almost anything."

"So a mage came here, killed the people, robbed the life essence from them, and stored them in a jar? For what purpose?"

"I have no idea," John looked down to the bodies in the room with them. "But I plan to find out."

"Have fun with that," Vanessa told him, walking out. "I'll go speak with the Lighthouse members here. They'll want to know about this. Hawthorne, get the chopper going. We're leaving now."

"Yes, ma'am."

John followed Vanessa down to the boat that was tied to the back of the yacht on the lowest platform.

The Lighthouse vessel was the kind that looked like a speed boat, only bigger. He saw windows on the sides, hinting at a possible below deck. Perhaps it was a smaller version of a yacht? He thought to himself.

Vanessa stopped at the edge and waited for a Lighthouse official to notice her. A man with black hair and purple eyes walked over. He wore a large, open blue navy coat with golden buttons with a leather harness strapped over it that went from his shoulders down to his waist, probably to keep the folds of the coat from flying around wildly. A saber was sheathed on the harness at his waist. Under the coat he wore a red buttoned up vest and black pants. A white patch with six orange strikes on it was on his left sleeve. John noted the color of his lilac colored eyes and his jet black hair. _A Lighthouse homunculus_. "Yes, Miss Kimweathers?"

"Are the explosives in place?" She asked. Above, the helicopter blades started to turn.

"Yes. We are ready to detonate on your command."

"Good. Keep your radios on, I'll ping you when the helicopter is at a safe distance, am I clear?"

"Yes, Miss Kimweathers."

"Thank you, Sargeant, I'll-"

The ship buckled under Vanessa and John. The transmuter fell to the deck and almost in the ocean. The yacht rocked back and forth wildly. John stumbled to his feet. "The hell was that?" he shouted.

On the other boat, the Lighthouse soldiers started to draw their weapons when their boat was slammed from underneath. The rope snapped and the smaller boat was carried up by a large wave, nearly capsizing. As the wave fell and another rose, it drifted further away. John saw the waves around them in every direction were growing wild.

"Miss Vanessa!" he heard. "Sea serpent!"

Next to him, Vanessa stumbled over to the stairs and clapped her hands together. When she drew them apart, dozens of metal strings appeared in her palms.

John followed her up two flights of stairs, where the helicopter was almost ready to lift off. The door was swung open. Madison's gun was in her hand. She beckoned for Vanessa to get in.

A loud screech echoed to the starboard side of the ship. A draconic head reared from the water. It's vibrant red serpenoid body thrashed around in the water beside it. John could only guess it was almost a hundred and a half feet in length.

Vanessa ran to the side of the ship and hurled the mass of metal wires in her hands. They sprang forward like a ball shot from a cannon. Expanding and elongating, they wrapped around the serpent's body, just under the head. The creature thrashed above the surface of the water for a moment, attempting to make a sound. Then, it's body tightened and bulged, and the wires snapped off, whipping the ocean below violently. The creature hissed loudly and dived under the water. It's finned tail thrashed above the water and disappeared.

"My magic won't work on it!" Vanessa shouted over the whirring of the blades. She grabbed Madison by the shoulders and shouted something else. She pointed to the ship. The Iron String Spider stepped into the helicopter and slammed the door. The helicopter rose up just as the boat rocked again. This time John did not fall to the deck. Instead, he made his way over to the other woman and stabilized himself on her.

"Where the _fuck _does she think she's going?" he shouted, his ears hurting from the near deafening sound of the helicopter blades.

"She said can't affect the serpent, she needs to make a retreat!"

"She's _running_? Why didn't she take us?"

Madison raised pointed to the front of the ship. "I need to take that thing's attention off of her and the Lighthouse vessel."

"So we're covering her ass for her? Fucking _bitch_!"

"No, I am, this is too dangerous for a civilian," she responded in a collected tone.

"I'm no civilian!"

"No?" She looked him over and nodded. "Then follow me." She turned and ran down the first flight of steps. John followed quickly. As he ran, he extended his right hand and pressed mana into it. In the air, magic writing traced itself in the air and flashed. A fraction of a second later, a long falchion sprang into existence in his grasp.

He ran after Madison down the starboard side of the ship. Thirty meters away the surface of the water exploded out of the water, the red sea serpent darted out and sank its fangs into the boat directly next to them. The impact threw the two to the side, knocking John's sword out of his hand. The falchion flipped down into the water. Madison fell against the wall, her briefcase sliding away. The sea serpent's orange eye focused on the two of them. Madison raised her gun and fired. The serpent's scales on its forehead deflected the first one, and second bullet penetrated its eye. The serpent hissed and thrashed away.

Madison leapt to her feet and focused on the serpent before it submerged again. "_Sendero_!" Her eyes flashed, and a mark appeared on the creature's orange underbelly. "Keep running!" she shouted, scooping up her briefcase.

As she got to the bow, she saw two of the bodies of people killed. The bow had a few lounging chairs and some broken sun tanning screens. Madison looked behind her, seeing John carrying his sword. She narrowed her eyes. She could have sworn it had gone overboard. She decided to not linger on the subject. Madison threw her suitcase onto a chair and opened it. Inside were a series of ammo magazines for her gun, and, just as important, attachments for her Artillery Luger. Her hands flashed as she assembled her ideal weapon.

To her right, John studied his falchion. It was entrusted to him by his uncle. He ran his left hand over the bright blade, which reflected red in the early sunlight along the edge of the blade. The transmuter held it to the side and pressed mana through it. The blade glowed red with heat, short white flames licking the air. He swung it back and forth, getting familiar with its weight again.

He heard a click behind him, then the sound of a clip sliding into place. Madison's pistol had changed dramatically. She had attacked a longer barrel to it, a scope, and an entire stock with a strap on it. The clip she had replaced with the other was a drum magazine. After slipping on the strap, she drew the large revolver looking gun. John's eyes widened."What the hell kind of gun is that?" he asked as she loaded five shotgun shells into the rotating chamber.

"A sawed off MTS two fifty five," she responded, shoving the weapon back in it's holster.

John twisted his mouth and extended his left hand. "For real now. John Marlow."

A smile tugged at Madison's lips. She shook his hand with a strong grip, looking him in the eye. "Madison Hawthorne."

The boat shook again as the serpent crashed through the water again. It snapped up a dead body from the port side of the ship, crunching on it loudly. It's hurt eye was open again. It saw the two taking up defensive positions. The serpent let out a low hiss and waded toward the front of the boat, letting out a chirping noise, as though it were challenging them.

Madison raised her gun and shot a stream of bullets at its underbelly. Similar to before, some of the scales absorbed the impact, while others pierced it, letting scarlet red blood pour from it.

The snake recoiled, hissing in pain. Suddenly, it shot forward, but John was ready. Magic circuits glowed throughout his body, and he flashed forward, bringing his sword up in a savage upward cut with both hands. The sword carved a deep, searing cut on the serpent's hide.

Madison backed up, still shooting. A hail of bullets arced into the mark on its belly, which seemed to soften some of the scales.

The serpent's tail lashed across the ship, tearing up the deck. John leapt over it with a side flip, but it struck Madison to the deck. She reactively shot the tail, the bullets ripping into it, and the serpent cried out and threw its tail back.

John saw its head lean forward and he charged. He went to jump, but as his foot left the deck, he vanished in a flash of sparks, and reappeared above the serpent's head. The transmuter plunged his sword into the creature's head, but the skull was too thick, and he only succeeded in cutting it opening a wound savagely on it's temple. Acting quickly, he shouted the words to a spell, reaching his open hands out. Magic power shot through his magic circuits and out of his palm, manifesting as a plume of fire that burned the top of the serpent's head. The serpent thrashed, hissing, but John apparated above the deck by thirty feet, breaking his fall with a roll.

Madison squeezed her trigger as her target become safe to shoot at again, peppering the top of the giant snake's head. Her gun _clack_-ed after it shot the last bullet in the magazine. She ducked behind a wall as soon as she heard that. "Reloading!" she shouted as loud as she could, tossing the empty magazine to the side and sliding in another. The serpent saw her drop away and lunged across the deck, mouth open wide.

John again jumped in the way, this time slashing at its open maw. It cut through the exposed gums like butter. The serpent _screamed _and twisted its body onto the ship, throwing anything not tied down forward. John nearly did the same, but Madison caught him by the coat, and they hauled themselves up the starboard side. The serpent, angered, followed them by slithering along the top of the ship. Its long tail whipped around as it aimed for the two.

The tail struck just below them, busting a hole in the hull. The two magus' managed to keep their footing. John saw a door a few yards, a window next to it revealing it was an exercise room. "We need to get to cover! Inside!" He ran forward and kicked the door down with little difficulty. Behind him, Madison leaned backward over the railing and unloaded as much as she could at the monster. This time, she had no shot at the underbelly, and the hard scales on its back deflected the bullets. The serpent raised its tail again. Magic circuits in Madison's legs flashed, and she dashed into the building.

She turned and slammed the door just before the tail impacted the wall. The door was launched from its hinges and slammed into the bodyguard. The wall buckled and gave was as the glass window shattered, which cut and pierced John's clothes and skin. He hoisted a dazed Madison to her feet and dragged her further into the boat through another door and into a hallway.

* * *

The Lighthouse official picked up on the fifth ring. A shaky but calm voice answered. "Sergeant Frendrick speaking."

"Vanessa," she replied coldly. Her helicopter was circling above the carnage by a few hundred feet. She watched with disdainful eyes. "That thing is causing a lot of damage to the civilian vessel. You don't seem to be helping."

"Ma'am, with all due respect, we can't engage without getting closer, and our ship isn't made for combat. The only reason the other is still afloat is because of its size."

"It won't be above water for long, Sergeant," Vanessa told him. "That damned creature burst the hull. It'll be underwater in a few minutes."

The sergeant voice paused. "The C4," he whispered. "The trigger won't work underwater, so we can't detonate."

* * *

"Not yet, anyway. If you did it now, the situation will hardly change. I doubt that thing will survive the explosion, so we won't have to explain a two hundred foot long corpse washing ashore."

"There's a Lighthouse member on board. And one of your-"

"I'm aware!" she snapped. "But if you don't detonate now, the whole fucking world will know about magecraft in a matter of fucking hours! The lives of two mages are well worth it, Sergeant!" She leaned forward, staring at the Lighthouse yacht. "If this indecisiveness continues, not only will Lighthouse be realized by the world, but you will be exterminated. Make the call, and get the fuck over it."

John and Madison sprinted through the hall as the serpent head burst through the ceiling behind them, snapping at them violently. John stopped running for a moment and hurled a ball of fire at the serpent, and then quickly followed it up with a wicked slash at the monster. The firebolt was dissipated against its scales, though John dealt a mighty blow across its snout. The giant serpent lunged, but John threw up a magic barrier around himself with a grunt.

Madison took his place, her shotgun in one hand and briefcase in the other. "_Sendero_!" Her eyes flashed again, and her mark appeared on the roof of its mouth. She fired three times in rapid succession. The first ripped a large portion of its tongue to shreds, the second tore into the back of its throat, and the final spray of buck shot found it's real target, and broke apart the roof of the creature's mouth.

The sea serpent screeched, but ignored the pain and lashed out. John was knocked into the wall, and he heard Madison cry out.

And then the world around him exploded.


	2. Chapter 2 Recovery

**Chapter 2: ****Recovery**

* * *

John regained his blurred, dark vision to drifting debris. He felt like someone had hit him with a hundred sledgehammers. His ears rang with a high pitch. He tried to take a deep breath, but only succeeded in filling his lungs with water.

His eyes snapped open. He thrashed his arms wildly around, gaining his bearings. He was underwater, in the wrecked halls of the yacht. The wall to his right was gone, the roof in the next room gone. The floor was blown apart below him.

Madison was nowhere to be seen.

He looked around the best he could, but he could hardly see beyond a few feet. The transmuter felt his lungs tighten in his chest. He swam forward down the hall, swimming up the hole that the serpent made trying to get at them.

A second explosion, much, much smaller than the other, detonated next to John, briefly deafening and discombobulating him. His survival instinct kicked in, and he flailed his arms, trying to crawl his way to the surface.

John broke through the waves, inhaling fresh air. He coughed out the water in his lungs as he found himself surrounded by flaming wreckage. He mentally thanked his uncle for teaching him how to swim in rough water. John saw an opening in the wreckage and made a break for it. "Madison!" he called as he swam. "Madison!"

No answer.

In the distance, he saw the sea serpent slithering through the water away from the wreckage, disappearing below the waves. Kimweathers' helicopter circled the area from above before breaking off and flying away.

"Marlow!" he heard a man call, followed by a shrill whistle. "Agent Hawthorne!" He saw the Lighthouse yacht outside the debris field.

"Hey!" the magus called. His voice was cracked. He treaded the water as hard as he could, avoiding flaming wood and furniture. As he got closer, someone threw him a life preserver. John latched onto it with his arms and stopped struggling. The homunculi pulled him in and hoisted him up. They rushed him into the cabin of the smaller boat. One took off his coat and threw a blanket on him. John heard them calling out for Madison outside.

A homunculus man knelt in front of him and shined a light in his eyes. "Marlow? Can you hear my voice?" John gave him a thumbs up. "You were in an explosion." The magus gave the man a _duh _look. The homunculus raised his hands, and magic circuits flashed in his hands. John felt his skin crawl. He saw the cuts on his hands seal up. "The sea serpent had damaged the boat too much. We had to scuttle it before the explosives were compromised."

He felt someone pat his shoulder. John looked up groggily. It was the homunculus sergeant, holding a phone. "I apologise, but you have a call."

John took the phone and sighed. "This is John Marlow speaking."

"Of course it is," Vanessa's voice whipped into his ear. "I told the sergeant to give the phone to you."

"You flew off without me," John said dumbly. "You told them to blow up the ship, didn't you?"

Vanessa paused. "What makes you say that?"

"It's not Lighthouse protocol to kill a civilian and a conjoining agent under a controlled environment. Only someone as cold as you would convince them to do it."

"That situation was far from controlled, and the hull _was _breached. The vessel needed to be destroyed, especially after that creature had left so many marks on it. Where's my student?"

"I lost her, and I couldn't find her anywhere." He thought as hard as he could. "I think… the serpent… got her."

"What?"

"What do you want me to say?" he shouted. "She was there, and the fucking snake was there, she screamed, then there was explosion, and now they're both fucking _gone_!"

Vanessa went quiet for a few seconds. "She screamed? And _then_ there was an explosion?"

"Yeah."

Vanessa sighed loudly. "I doubt her body could ever be recovered. What a waste of a Magic Crest," she added.

John exploded, screaming incoherently into the phone. Two of the homunculus soldiers held him down as the sergeant took his phone back. The medic returned quickly, grabbing his shoulders. "Sir, calm down, the shock is wearing off. Breathe, John, breathe."

The transmuter nodded shakily. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "That thing fled."

The medic nodded. "The wounds you two dealt it were pretty severe. You should be proud, no one this side of the world has fought a sea serpent in decades and lived to tell the tale. It does worry me that one just attacked for no reason."

"It has its reasons," John told him, regaining his composure. "Only females grow to that size. It was probably hunting for the first time in years after raising its hatchlings. Sea serpents are the cousins of dragons, and are almost as intelligent. Magical creatures like that are attracted by the presence of mana, and avoid the attention of common folk. It probably felt the ritual a few hours ago and was roaming the area until I started to uncover the ritual with my own magic."

Smirking, the medic patted his shoulder. John winced at the pain. "Either way, sir, that was very impressive."

"I did have help," John muttered.

The homunculus nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Marlow, Ms. Kimweathers gave us no choice. She was right, anyway, the secret of magecraft must hold."

"I know, but some warning from her would have been nice."

"I agree, we do have ways, though you were- what is that?"

Outside, multiple people were blowing their whistles. One threw the life preserver into the water and yanked the rope back.

John was on his feet, ignoring the medic's protest.

Someone reached over the side of the ship and hauled up a very pale Madison Hawthorne. She fell to the deck, coughing up seawater. John started forward, only to be stopped by a larger soldier holding a hand up. "Let the medic take care of her first," he said in a gruff voice.

* * *

Madison blinked the yellow dots out of her eyes, feeling water tickling her legs. Her eyes shot open. She leapt to her feet, seeing water pouring into the room she was in.

The explosion had thrown her up through the ceiling, into what looked like a closet. Ice cold water was rising swiftly to her knees now. Panic leapt in her chest. She tried the door, but it did not budge. She tried to kick it down as it past her thighs to no avail.

She reached for her gun at her hip. When her hand brushed against nothing, her heart almost stopped; her gun and her briefcase were gone.

The water torrented around Madison, drenching her in freezing temperatures.

There was only one way out, she realized, and her air was about to run out. She took a deep breath and dove down. Below, she found an opening in the floorboards. Madison swam through it, tearing her coat against a jagged piece of wood. She found herself in the hallway, though it was so dark she could barely see in front of her.

A glint of steel caught her eye. Madison saw her gun spinning on the floor, dancing from the water rushing around it. Madison swam as hard as she could to catch it. The salt water burned her eyes, but she pushed through it. She grabbed it and holstered it. She quickly detached the stock and shoved it into a larger pocket in her coat.

She looked around, failing to find her briefcase. Madison swam downward, looking for it frantically. The ship was tilted, and she saw pieces of a broken porcelain jar slowly tumbling down the floor.

She kept swimming down, ignoring the strain in her chest and her ears popping.

She saw at the edge of her vision a familiar briefcase sliding across the floor. Madison pushed off a nearby wall and grabbed the briefcase.

Madison felt a current tugging against her, and she realized the ship was sinking.

And the temperature was dropping quickly

And she was drowning.

Her vision blurred as she thrashed into a nearby room.

She burst into a pocket of air inside. The woman gasped for breath. She stayed for only a moment in the pitch blackness. "Fucking hell," she managed to say. "Get moving, Hawthorne." It would only be a few moments before the weight of the sea would crush the ship, and crush her body. "_Fuerza, fuerza salvaje_!" Raw strength funneled through her body via her magic circuits.

Madison took the last breath she figured she'd ever take and dove back into the water, briefcase in hand.

* * *

Madison woke up in a gasp of breath. She flailed to the floor, inhaling as much air as she could. Something heavy followed her. She tried to fight it off, but it persisted into falling on top of her until she was lying still. Something blared in the bodyguard's ear.

She couldn't see, and her hearing was muffled. Her breath felt cold.

It took her several seconds to realize she was wrestling a blanket, and she had fallen off a bed. Madison threw the blanket off of her and tried getting to her feet, only to buckle to her knees.

"Return to your bed," a hollow voice said loudly. Madison looked up to a wall, where a wall decoration, a sun with a lazy, smiling face seemed to be speaking to her. "The nurse will see you shortly."

"Where am I?" Madison asked groggily.

"Return to your bed, the nurse will see you shortly," it repeated without changing its tone.

Nodding absentmindedly, Madison balled up her blanket and climbed into bed. She noticed she was in a light blue hospital gown. Her heart skipped several beats as she realized she could not see her weapons or her briefcase.

A nurse soon walked into the room, wearing maroon scrubs and carrying a clipboard. She pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down. "How are you feeling, Madison Hawthorne?"

"Groggy. What happened? Where am I?"

"You were in an explosion on the ocean. You suffered severe hypothermia when they fished you out of the water. You are really lucky the team out there did not have to amputate anything."

"Explosion?"

"The boat you were on was attacked by a sea serpent. If any more damage was done to it, the explosives on board would have been ruined by water, so the Lighthouse team was forced to detonate. The team found you thrashing in the water, practically blue. That was two days ago. You are in a hospital in San Francisco, California."

"Two days ago? Where are my clothes? And my briefcase? And my guns!" Panic jumped in her chest.

"The team had to cut your clothes off to treat your hypothermia, I'm afraid. Your briefcase is here, with us." Madison let out a sigh of relief. "Your guns have been cleaned for you, but weapons are not permitted on the grounds here. They will be returned when you leave. We will provide you with new clothes, but I'm not sure we can get you anything as custom fitted or… expensive." The nurse shifted in her chair. "What can you tell me about how you escaped the boat?"

Madison shrugged. She told her how she swam around the ship, looking for her briefcase, finding an air pocket, and then swimming up wildly.

"After that is a little hazy," she admitted.

The nurse was jotting down notes as she spoke, nodding. "Thank you Miss Hawthorne." She stood up and shook her hand. "The doctor will see you soon. Would you like some clothes before then?"

"If that's okay."

The nurse left the room, leaving the door open. Madison could only see the hallway that led to a waiting room. She couldn't see anyone except the nurse as she came back, a stack of clothes in hand. She helped Madison out of bed. "Doctor Mahoney will see you in five minutes. Be sure you're ready by then." The nurse smiled and closed the door behind her on the way out. Madison changed into the black tank top, khaki shorts, and cheap tennis shoes she was provided. None of it matched, but it unnerved her that she was measured in her sleep. The tank top did not go high enough, and she could see the three scars on her chest and right arm from a battle months ago.

The bodyguard looked around the room, noting that there wasn't a window. She felt refreshed as she could be now that she was moving around. She glanced down at her left arm, where her magic crest was. She remembered the words predecessor passed to her the day after it had been transferred to her. She pressed mana into a certain path of magic circuits in it, watching the mana trace through it down her arm into her fingers. A breeze circled the room. It was a minor spell with many utilerian uses. None for combat, but for practice.

A firm knock echoed the room. Madison sat on the bed. "Come in."

She expected a man or woman in a lab coat to walk in. Instead, a man in a navy blue suit with a gray mantle over his shoulders strode in. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes, and he kept his shoulders and arms hidden in his mantle. "Hello, Madison Hawthorne. My name is Inquisitor Blanc. I have a few questions for you."

Madison sighed. "The other woman was the doctor, wasn't she? I should have seen it."

"You are correct, but that was merely a precaution. You understand, of course? After all, with someone as secretive and lucrative as Vanessa Kimweathers, it is only natural you comprehend the weight of one of her agents being reported dead, when in actuality, they live without the Iron String Spider knowing."

Madison looked up at that. "She doesn't know I'm alive?"

"A stroke of luck for both of us."

The bodyguard hugged her knees. "She really thinks I'm dead?"

"Your body was reported to be non-recoverable. Eaten by a sea serpent. We can keep it that way." The inquisitor paused, giving her a look. "That is, if you are willing to exchange that privilege for information."

Madison looked to the floor, drumming her fingers on her knees. "Her intelligence network runs deep. How can I be sure I'll be safe?"

"The web that the Iron String Spider has spun is more frail than she thinks, and not as wide either. Her contacts run in the high end industry of the magus society, and that is where it ends. Should you keep your head down, you will not pull any of those frail strings. Even if you are discovered, you will be provided witness protection against her that extends all the way to the Mage's Association." Blanc spread a hand to the side. Madison noticed that, sheathed at his sides, were a pair of thin short swords. "What I am offering is the chance of a lifetime. My colleagues are more violent than I am. I find results in equivalent exchange to be more fruitful than taking it by force."

"I don't know everything about her."

"Anything would be helpful, starting with how the training of a Silk Charlotte begins, and how Kimweather's has managed to transfer magic crests along non-related bloodlines to each other."

Madison pursed her lips and nodded. She told him all the information she could about Vanessa. The interrogation ran for three hours. The inquisitor's questions were straight to the point, and Madison felt no need to hold back anything she knew. The mage never sat, and never shifted from his stance, his face entirely emotionless.

As she explained the intricacies of Vanessa's method of transferring magic crests, Blanc stopped her with a wave of his hand. "You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Inquisitor Blanc told her. "I believe I have all I need to know from you." He reached into his suit pocket and produced a rolled sheet of paper and a golden pen. He set them beside Madison. "My end of the bargain. All you need to do is sign, and you will become a formal member of the Lighthouse, with all the rights and protections I have promised you."

Madison hesitantly picked up the pen. "I'm not sure about this, but you don't leave a woman a lot of options."

She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "You may not know anything about me, but I have watched Kimweathers and the Silk Charlotte's from a distance. I only wish the best for you, after all you've been through."

Madison quickly signed her name on the contract with a sharp intake of breath. She dropped the pen, not believing she just signed it. "Is that all?"

"Almost." The inquisitor withdrew his hand from her shoulder and rolled up the pen and paper. "You are now under the protection of the Lighthouse. A caretaker will be offered to you until a residence has been assigned, or you have found one yourself. Lastly, I'm afraid that your name must be changed, to keep you hidden."

"I thought so," Madison sighed. "To what?"

"You may keep your first name, if you wish, but your last name must be changed. Would you provide me one at this time, or at a later date?"

Madison shook her head. "Madison is a name someone special gave to me. I can't get rid of it. Give me a few days to think, okay?"

"Of course. If you need any assistance, do not hesitate to contact my office in Seattle. If you'll excuse me, Miss Madison, I have paperwork to finalize your initiation. I hope you have a pleasant day." He bowed and quickly withdrew from the room, his mantle disappearing around the corner.

Madison let out a shaky breath and stood, stretching. The doctor walked back in, knocking on the door quietly. "Hello, Miss Madison. Congratulations on your induction."

"Thanks," she replied quietly.

"I think you're rested enough to move, yes?" After the bodyguard nodded, the doctor led her out of the room and down the hall, towards the waiting room. "Inquisitor Blanc has prepared several commodities for you. You are very fortunate that he was in charge of your case here. Despite his demeanor and attitude, he is kind in his own way." The doctor continued to lead her out of the waiting room and into a vacant lobby. "Did he mention that a caretaker would be provided to you?"

"Yeah, he said something along the lines of that."

"Blanc did not have to look long for someone willing to shelter you," the doctor said confidently as she led Madison out of the lobby door and into a bright, sunny day. Madison shielded her eyes, squinting hard. Her eyes adjusted to see Inquisitor Blanc entering the back seat of a red sedan by the curb in front of them. He nodded to her, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he shut the door.

The sedan pulled away, and Madison looked at her surroundings. The magus hospital was a lone, three story building with a gated wall around the parking lot. A tall sign read 'Mirandis Private Clinic.' The building was just on the edge of the city, with wilderness around the corner. Madison found it bizare how the city just ended where she found herself. The doctor patted her shoulder and went back inside.

She heard a vehicle door shut to her right. She turned, seeing what she thought was a large van, with a black sedan hooked to a trailer on the back. Striding towards her in a red shirt and blue jeans was a familiar man with dirty blonde hair.

"Last I saw you," John Marlow laughed. "You were as blue as a Smurf! How are you feeling, Madison?"

"Better." Madison smiled. "You were the one who volunteered, aren't you?"

"Of course! How could I abandon someone who drove off a damn sea serpent with me?"

Madison shook his hand. "The feelings are mutual, Marlow. Do you have my guns in there?" She nodded to the van. "And my briefcase?"

John looked at her, a glint in his eye. "That is not a van, lady, that is a class B luxury RV. _My _home to be exact."

Madison raised an eyebrow. "You live in a van?"

"It's not a van!" John laughed. He turned and walked around the front to the passenger side, where a sliding door was. He pulled it open, and Madison felt the need to apologize. Just inside was a polished wood floor, with a couch facing the door. Beside the couch was a small bathroom. As she stepped in, she saw a countertop with a sink adjacent to the bathroom, with a minifridge under it. In the back, she saw two other couches and a wardrobe. Windows lined the walls above the sink and where all the couches were stationed. In the front, there was no center console between the driver and passenger seats, with arm rests on either in instead.

Resting on the front couch was her briefcase, and her leather harness for her MTS-255. Madison unclipped and opened the briefcase, seeing her gun disassembled and it and it's various attachments in their foam housings neatly. She checked the behind the lining of the foam to make sure her valued item was still there. To her relief, it was.

John closed the door behind him and sat in the driver's seat. "I bought this with my uncle's fortune. He was like a father to me. So," he groaned as he stretched. "You okay with the Inquisitor's proposition? I show you around North America until your comfortable being on your own?"

"I'm fine with that, I was trained to be a bodyguard anyways."

"Good, cause I'm gonna be needing one." Madison looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. He held out his hand to her, showing the necklace he had picked up on the yacht. His expression was determined. "I'm going to find who did this. Vanessa dropped her case yesterday when leads showed up. None at all. I can't let this go, but I can't do it by myself. I need help."

Madison didn't think long. "Where do we start?"


	3. Chapter 3 The Veiled Tower

I probably should have put a disclaimer in the first two chapters. This story isn't meant to closely follow Type Moon lore, all this is is shameless, fun writing. Feel free to leave a review, if you want.

* * *

John turned the van down the dirt road that led down into the undergrowth on the side of the lonely Louisiana back road. The van rocked against the bumpy road. Tall bushes and short trees hugged the road tightly, branches stretching over the road and smacking loudly against the window. John winced, swearing he could hear the branches scraping off paint.

Beside him in the passenger seat, Madison watched the landscape behind the thick cluster of green into the swamps. As she stared out the window, she felt a slight pain in her eyes.

As they turned around a bend, the bodyguard saw a translucent shadow in the air far to the right of them, almost a mile away. The shadow seemed to rise up like a wall through the trees. Madison recognised it as a Bounded Field. She glanced at John, who didn't seem to notice. She knew that only people with Mystic Eyes like hers could see Bounded Fields in the same manner.

After five minutes of bumpy driving, the trees parted into a gravel covered clearing. A dozen other cars were parked around the lot, as well as a box truck and a semi truck with a trailer on it. There was a concrete ramp that led into the water, where a man in an airboat was seemingly waiting. By the ramp was a small building.

John drove into a more vacant corner of the place and threw the van in park and shut off the engine. "Alright, we're almost there, just a boat ride away." The transmuter got out of the van and stretched. "You might wanna grab your guns and briefcase."

Madison nodded and got up from her seat. She strapped on her harness that held her holsters and quickly deposited her weapons where they went, lastly grabbing her briefcase. She grimaced at her unmatched black tank top and khaki shorts. It was the third time she had worn them, and though John had cleaned them with a simple spell, she felt a little odd wearing them. On top of that, she did not look ready for combat. She shook those thoughts out of her head and got out of the van, sliding the door closed behind her.

She watched John walk up to the building. Inside was a thin man wearing a hat with a college football team emblem on it. He stared up at a small TV on the desk in front of him, watching a football game. A red chested finch was perched on a small birdhouse inside the office. John knocked, seemingly unsurprised when the man didn't look to him. "Hey, Nicolas. Watch these for me?" he asked as he tossed two sets of keys towards the man's lap.

"Uh-huh," Nicolas responded, catching the keys without looking. He tossed them behind the keys into a wicker basket beside him.

"Thanks, Nicolas," John told him, stepping out of the building. He walked towards the airboat at the bottom of the ramp.

"_Sir _Marlow?" Madison asked as she followed him, an eyebrow raised. "That's odd."

The transmuter shrugged. "Hey, the Order of Autumn isn't all that strange in the magus world." He waved to the man on the boat, who had a rather large belly and a long beard, his eyes behind a pair of black glasses. His brown hair was curled into dreadlocks. He regarded the two with a blank expression. The man got up and started the large fan on the back of the boat. Madison sat by John towards the front of the vessel.

The airboat slid forward over the calm water, navigating around sandbars and dodging between clusters of trees. Madison watched the distant Bounded Field draw closer, realizing it was much bigger than she had thought, and she was only seeing the innermost layer of it. They must have been inside the perimeter of it for a long time, in a thin veil she must have gradually gotten used to seeing without knowing it was there. She wondered how long they had been inside.

Twenty minutes went by before they reached the edge of the inner Bounded Field, a mile wide and long, where the trees practically formed a wall along the side of it. The air in front of them shimmered like a mirage. The water turned crystal clear, and the clusters of trees surrounding the area had bright orange leaves that constantly grew and fell. At the center of the clear waters was an island with a marble tower standing tall in the middle. The top of the tower was a dome. A few small buildings surrounded the tower.

At the edge of the island, facing the entrance to the circle, was a large dock with a small fleet of a dozen other airboats.

John nodded to the tower and raised his voice above the loud buzzing of the fan behind them. "That's the Veiled Tower! Headquarters for the Autumn Order!" He pointed to the base of it. "That's just the tip of the iceberg! The main part of the building is underground, with labs, workshops, gardens, and a library beneath it! At the top is an observatory!"

"This is amazing!" Madison shouted back.

The airboat slid to a stop next to the dock, and the pair hopped out. The airboat didn't stay long, pulling away and taking off the way it came.

John lead Madison to the tall entrance of the tower, where a stone door waited for them. The transmuter swung it open, revealing a lobby area with a high roof. There were several lounge areas with couches and glass tables. In the back were six sets of elevators. The lobby was surprisingly quiet. The only sounds were coming from a woman in a suit who was silently reading several books laid out in front of her.

The pair stepped into one of the elevators. John pressed a button, and his bodyguard felt the elevator descend rapidly. A whole minute passed before the elevator _dinged_, and the doors opened to reveal a gargantuan cavern with a high ceiling, almost ten stories above their heads. At first, Madison thought she had stepped into a resort.

The ground had been smoothed out into a flat surface, with actual grass growing into the deep brown soil. A number of tall trees rose up among the gardens. Cobbled paths wound through the cavern. A waterfall poured through the furthest wall and ran along a channel that snaked through the cavern that emptied into a wide lake that took up a sixth of the cavern. Gazebos and small pavilions dotted the landscape. Carved into the walls were windows and doors that Madison realized were buildings that were built into the stone around them. Towards the center was a grove giant black mushrooms that glowed a bright green on their spores. Some of the mushrooms were the size of a person, some three times the size of Madison.

A number of people were walking around the area. Most were humans, which Madison surmised were mages. However, she saw many short, stocky individuals with deep gray skin and snow-white hair. By their size and build Madison thought they were dwarves.

Keeping the entire area lit was a great ball that was floating in the center of the room. She couldn't tell was it was made out of, but the light reflected off of the cavern walls and kept the area lit in a soft, warm glow. It was then Madison noticed the dog sized creatures that floated in the air; the creatures looked like jellyfishes with more ovular bodies. Two eye stalks jutted up on either side of flappy mouths on their face. They glowed light pink and light orange colors as they floated about.

"What are those?" she asked quietly.

John looked up and smiled. "Those are flumphs. They tend to the gardens here. They are friendly, and are allies of the Order."

"Do they talk?"

"Not with those mouth things between their eyes. They speak telepathically."

One of the flumphs floated down near them, running its tendrils across the grass. Where it touched seemed to dissolve as if in acid, cutting the grass to an even length. One of the eyes focused on Madison, and the flumph's body glowed a hot pink.

John led Madison to one of the nearby corridors. As they passed the threshold into it, the cobbled path became a smooth, white marble. The walls were amber orange color with black wood supports. "This hallway is where we put our magus workshops." They walked for five minutes, towards the end of the hall. John pointed to a room on their right. "This is it." On the door was a plaque that read _Corentin Beuagard_. John walked in without knocking. Inside, the lab was filled with a series of copper plated machines that were powered by boilers. A few had large wheels and belts attached to them that made other powerless machines rotate. It sounded like a dozen quiet locomotives were in the room with them. It was extremely humid in the room, but surprisingly cool.

Hanging on a coat rack was a sleeveless, black denim biker jacket. A red button-up shirt was thrown on the rack. Hanging on the rack next to it was a leather made, low top-hat with a band around it. On the band was what looked like a red glass eye.

John gestured to the lab, and then to an iron door in the back. "This place provides electricity to the entire facility."

Madison thought for a moment, looking at all the machinery around her. "Through steam power, I assume? Impressive. There's not any shortages of clean water here in the swamp once the Bounded Field cleanses it."

"Tip of the iceberg here." John jammed a thumb at the iron door. "There's an entire field of these machines below us. Master Beaugard is down there. He'll probably be up here in a few minutes."

"Who is he?"

"Master Beaugard is a _very _talented mage, engineer, and alchemist, though his specialty is summoning and conjuring. Most of where I learned of the basic and advanced applications of transmutation was from him. Some Lighthouse officials call him the 'Steamforger.'"

Madison watched the machines spin. Her eyes flashed a deep brown color as she cast a minor detecting spell. "Almost nothing about these seem magical, aside from the manufacturing of the parts themselves. However, the tarnishing process has been halted, or at least slowed to the point where maintenance can be kept at a minimum. There is also a ward cast on them, but I can't tell what it is."

Behind her, John raised an eyebrow. "Do you have Mystic Eyes?"

"Transplanted ones, yeah," Madison muttered. "They're called Mystic Eyes of Nature Detection. They can see when certain aspects around me are an imbalance to nature or not, such as magical interference. They don't tell me what makes the imbalance itself unless I use an actual spell."

A loud clang echoed throughout the room, and the iron door swung open. Hot air blew into the lab. A shirtless and slightly overweight man wearing black cargo pants stepped in, a hammer and two differently sized wrenches resting in his pockets. Corentin was slightly taller than average, and was almost as muscular as John. He had short red hair and a long red beard. His face face set into a furrowed scowl. His right forearm, past the elbow, was replaced by a fully functioning prosthetic arm and hand, which looked almost skeletal in appearance, with wires and tubes running down it. The tips of the steel fingers had leather pads.

He nodded to John. "It's good t' see ya, Marlow." Corentin had a thick southern drawl to his voice. "I gotcha message last night. Still stuck with that problem back west?"

The transmuter nodded. "Got here an hour ago. I did all I could away from my workshop, but I couldn't even figure out the base of this thing." He reached into his coat and passed Corentin the segment of carpet that Madison had ripped up. The Steamforger took it and looked it over. He sniffed it and shook his head.

"Lotta stuff in here. Gimme a few days with it and I'll get back to you on it." Corentin tossed the carpet sample onto a nearby table. "Thanks for checkin' out the situation out in California, but it looks like you have something to keep yourself busy now." He glanced at Madison. "You said you got yourself a bodyguard. A new affiliate of the Order, yeah?"

"Not officially, yet," John told him.

Madison reached a hand out to him. "Madison Blackrose."

"Blackrose? Pretty name." Corentin finished buttoning his shirt and shook her hand with his prosthetic arm. Madison winced, the grip tighter than she expected. "Ain't ever heard of a Blackrose family before. 'Specially one with Mystic Eyes such as yours."

The bodyguard blinked. "How did you know that?"

"I was watchin' ya." Corentin flicked his arm out, and the hat on the rack flipped through the air and into his grasp. He spun the brim of the hat through his mechanical fingers and rested in on his head. On the leather band of the hat, the red eye focused on Madison. "I see what it sees, hear what it hears. So where are ya from, Blackrose?"

"Vancouver, originally. I'm the third child from my biological family, but they sold me to the Kimweathers division in the Wynwind Corporation."

"Kimweathers division? The Silk Charlottes?"

Madison nodded.

"How did you get away?" Corentin shook his head. "Forget it, not my business. From what I know, the Silk Charlottes were trained assassins."

Madison went to say something, but hesitated. "Well, some of us were, our top brothers and sisters, but not me. I failed the… exams." She pointed to the scars on her face. "Just close protection duty for me. But that doesn't matter, they think I'm dead, and I'd rather it stay that way than go back. I had my last name changed to Blackrose to hide that I was alive. It was a rushed decision, too, I just chose my favorite flower and the color I was wearing at the moment," she admitted.

"I'm sure we could help ya with that. Stick with us awhile, we could use your kind of help. 'Specially John here."

"Hey!" John interjected, but Corentin continued, ignoring him.

"I take it Marlow has filled you in on what we do?"

"Not really."

Corentin stroked his beard. "We, the Autumn Order, are tasked by the Lighthouse to hunt down and eliminate aberrations, things that are not of this world. Like the flumphs out there, 'cept the flumphs don't mean harm to no one, and we shelter them."

"Why?"

"Oh, they have their uses. They good gardeners, that's for damn sure. They were like the ship rats to the other things that came here first."

"Other things?"

Corentin opened his mouth to answer, but he hesitated, and then shook his head. "Don't wanna scare you too much. Marlow, have you showed her around the whole compound yet?"

"Not yet, I wanted to give you that first."

"Well, give her a tour of the place. Get going. I got a few more engines to get ready." The Steamforger opened the iron door and nodded to Madison. "Good to meet ya, Blackrose," he called as he closed the door and latched it.


End file.
